Troubled Retail Giant Carrefour Picks New CEO
Carrefour is not as large as Walmart but it is large enough to be a proxy for retail sales in its home market of Europe. And, Europe is done badly Carrefour appointed a new CEO. Whether that…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Small Business Economy Falters–Intuit
Many economists segment the US employment pool into three pieces–large business, small businesses, and government. It has been broadly believed that job creation at small companies drives the size of the work force more than…
Can Apple Sell 40 Million iPhones In China
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) sold 37 million iPhones in its last competed quarter. Most analysts could hardly believe it. The consensus on Wall St was close to 30 million Apple still has two huge untapped…
Some Irish Want Vote On Fiscal Treaty
As more and more citizens in financially weak EU nations try to buck off austerity, the political problem has become worse, or nearly as bad, and the financial one. There are concerns that France’s ruling…
Ten Cheap Products Making American Companies Billions
Just because certain products have a low price tag does not mean they cannot sell for billions of dollars. In fact, some of the cheapest products make the most money for their companies. 24/7…
A Mexican Stand-Off for Greece
German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler wants an outside institution to control Greece’s budget. He claims the Greeks have proven they cannot enforce their own austerity plans. Evangelos Venizelos, the Finance Minister of Greece, released an…
Europe’s Youth Unemployment Problem Seen from the U.S.
EU leaders want to put aside as much as 22 billion euro to stimulate youth employment in the region. The sum is not likely to be enough because more than 5 million young people…
A Boycott of Apple Products — Not Likely
A number of media have accused Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) of using Chinese companies whose laborers are treated harshly by their employers as they make iPads and iPhones. Some writers have called for boycott. While a boycott may be…
What’s Important in the Financial World (1/30/2012) Bank of America Management, Facebook IPO
There is still no settlement between Greece and the private investors who hold its debt. Greece also faces a call from Germany to have an independent agency supervise its budget. The Greek government voiced a…
Media Digest (1/30/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT
EU leaders agree to create the European Stability Mechanism, which will have funds of 500 billion euro and begin its business in July. (Reuters) EU leaders probably will create a 20 billion euro fund…
Business Confidence Drops In Italy
In another sign that Italy may have fallen into recession, business confidence dropped in January. There are worries that Italy’s debt loan cannot be paid down if its economy falters and austerity pulls stimulus from…
Philips, Global Business Proxy, Falters
Royal Dutch Philips is one of the largest companies in Europe and produces and sells a very broad array of products. That makes it a reasonable proxy for the global economy, much the way…
China To Make Shanghai Capital Of Yuan Trading–Reuters
China wants to bring the trading of its currency “in house” and out of the hands of traders in the West and Japan. It makes sense. Why not control trading of your own currency?…
E-Mail Giants, Sick Of “phishing”, Vow To Combat It
“Phishing”, the illegitimate use of email to trick recipients into a scam or other action that might harm them financially, has been a problem nearly since email was invented. There have been a number of…
RBS Chief, Under Attack, Turns Down Bonus
RBS CEO Stephen Hester joined the ranks of financial firm chiefs who have been attacked for out-sized compensation packages. Opponents argue that bailed out firms should not pay their managements well. The reaction to comp…
Republicans May Link Highway Bill To Keystone XL Pipeline
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner says he may insist that a new highway bill be linked to the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline meant to carry oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf…
China GDP Down .3% In Q4, Recession Looms
Spain announced that its GDP dropped .3% in the fourth quarter. Another negative quarter, and Spain will be officially in a recession. The National Statistics Institute made the announcement. With Q1 2012 nearly a…
MF Global Missing $1.2 Billion May Stay Missing
Since the collapse of MF Global, one of the acute questions is what happened to $1.2 billion in funds. Experts have been looking for the money for at least two months. Some expected to…
Dick Parsons May Step Down As Citi Chairman
Richard Parson, former CEO of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) may leave as chairman of Citigroup (NYSE: C). He is credited with helping steer the bank through the difficulty of the credit crisis, rebuilding the board,…
Apple Gains Market Share In Corporate World
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been successful in the market for personal computers for individuals for decades. The Mac has been pulled along by the popularity of, first, the iPod, and more recently the iPh0ne and…